The Era of Shattered Dreams
by PearlaH.Sweden-Arigatou
Summary: Unbidden, 4 heros come to the Clans, completely oblivious to the fact they have love, horror, loss, and difficult choices to make in the future. Rated T to be safe.
1. Prolouge: How it All Began

**I hope you enjoy this fanfic that I have put my heart and soul into, as "I was unsure whether I wanted to share my work, not sure it would be successful, and worried it would just be cast aside as many underestimated stories are. However, that is the way it it, I suppose, and I will have to deal with it, just as characters in a book do, for even though no one else may see it the way I do, in my eyes it is dear to me"**

**Quote From the Files of PearlaH.Sweden, Author, Reader, and Sushi-Lover**

**I hope you enjoy this story! (Sorry about the quote, I was in one of my moods, a feeling of great dramatic spurs that occur very rarely in- wait, I;m doing it again)**

**He he! Anyway, I really love Warriors, and want to share my stories with all you readers out there! I hope this story satisfies you!**

**Sincerely Yours,**

**Pearla

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_"Dark prophecies…_

_Red rivers…_

_Starless nights…_

_The Awakening…_

_Of the four legends…_

_Storms of Hatred…_

_Feathers of Fury…_

_Rain of Bones…_

_Dawn of Death…_

_The Hour of Darkness is drawing near…"_

The old cat opened a bloodshot eye and shook his head. Beside him, a brown apprentice and two young kits were dozing off, but stirred at his movement.

"Mudfur…" moaned Shrewpaw wearily."Did you have a vision?" Mudfur nodded, eyes lighting up with a fire that seemed to have burned there forever.  
"What lies in store for the Clans?" A new voice asked.

"Bluestar, I have received a warning," muttered Mudfur. "A world of betrayal and death is about to arise, in Thunderclan, and Windclan alone at first. It seems the 4 legends have come…"

"No!" gasped the old blue-gray Thunderclan leader, drawing back. "It can't be true!"

"Yet we do not know the path these 4 will take," warned a gray she-cat. "They may stray from the right path, or they may stick to it and become the greatest warriors this forest has ever known."

"Yes, Yellowfang, but the warning seems clear enough," snapped Mudfur. "They will rip the Clans apart, rise up to be rulers, and-"

"Or, they might unite the Clans once more, and make a sixth one?" a gentle meow said, and a tortoiseshell she-cat lifted her head. "Yellowfang has a fair point. Isn't that right, Mudfur?"

"Spottedleaf, I received a dream that told me they would save the forest once, and only_ once_, many moons ago," rasped the brown tom. "I have yet to be convinced that these cats will not cause more harm than good."

"Only time will tell," spoke Oakheart, and beside him, the elder Heavystep nodded. "Yes. Only time will show us what will happen, and when the 4 legends come to join the ranks of Starclan, we will be ready and waiting for them."

Murmurs of agreement arose from the seated cats, and the light gray she-cat known as Feathertail bowed her head.

"I will walk in the dreams of the leader," she vowed.

Silverstream stepped up. "I shall walk the dreams of the deputy," she murmured.

Spottedleaf's eyes shone with compassion as she murmured, "I will walk in the dreams of the medicine cat."

The last cat came up, Bluestar, and promised, "I will walk in the dreams of the mother."

"It is done," said Yellowfang gravely. "You 4 will each guide these acts as they lead their lives, and be there to teach them the ways of the Clans."


	2. The Beginning

Storm: Gray tom, amber eyes

Missy: Dark gray shaggy furred she cat with yellow eyes

Rain: Gray black tom with blue eyes

Feather: White she cat with pale gray ears and green eyes

Storm crouched beside his sister, shivering. Night was drawing near, but whenever he tried to doze off he was awake by flashes of dogs in his mind. His sister, Missy, was semi-conscious, eyes half closed in a daze beside him. The reddening sky was an eerie reminder that the kits had strayed far from their Nofur's home. Storm gave his shoulder fur a couple of slow licks. His paw hurt; it had been torn in the race against the dogs. Missy was not hurt, though she was more fragile than Storm: she had been the runt of Storm's litter, along with another brother and sister. Missy was strong and fearless at times and had given the dogs a good taste of what cats could do. Storm looked to her for support, but now she just burrowed blindly into her brother's gray fur.

"Storm, where are we?" she mewed quietly, ears flattening as they heard an owl hoot somewhere nearby.

"I'm not sure," sighed Storm, defeat in his amber eyes. "We're nowhere near the stables, that's for sure."

They had been taken away from their mother at a very young age, but Storm still remembered her soothing purr and the feeling of her warm gray and white pelt. He longed for them both now and his littermates with him as well. "What if they're dead?" whimpered Missy, eyes blank with shock. Storm gave a shudder as he realized she was right; they didn't know whether the dogs had gotten them.

"We'll try and find them in the morning," he promised, trying to sound braver than he felt.

He was as young as Missy, he reminded himself, but he was the first born and would make sure that his sister felt safe.

"I'll catch us some food," he meowed confidently. "That'll cheer you up!"

Missy blinked before giving a sickly, yet amused purr, staring up at her brother with affection in her golden eyes.

"Storm, we've never caught prey before," his sister reminded him. "We watched mother do it often enough, but she only caught a few, maybe 3, and we were very little then. We've always eaten the food Nofurs feed us."

"Still," Strom insisted, trying to sound confident. "I'll try." He led his sister to a clump of reeds and she lay down for a while before getting restless. She climbed into a small hole in the old oak next to her and sighed, curling up. "I feel safer here."

"Good," purred Storm. "I'll hunt for a while, and maybe catch a mouse or two. You'll be all right alone?"

Missy nodded, though there was a flash of fear in her eyes. "Don't let me stop you. I can hurt anything that tries to hurt _me_!"

"Alright then," said Storm, "soon we'll have a nice bird or mouse to eat. Come on, Missy, learn to cope with it!"

He touched noses with her and set off. After a few minutes he caught the scent of prey, and sure enough, a raven was pecking the ground in search of food. Storm crouched low and slowly crept towards it, but his kit-side got the better of him and he sprang towards it excitedly, trying to pounce, but the raven took off before he even set a paw on the ground close enough to get it.

"Rats," muttered Storm, glaring at his injured paw. "I could hunt so much better without this!" He gathered his confidence and limped along the shore of the lake. "Maybe I'll find fish," he said to himself. "That'll be enough to eat!"

He walked slowly over to where the lake was a bit deeper, where a fallen tree connected the land to a small island. He crouched over the water, seeing a quick flash of movement he clumsily darted out a paw, before shooting it back out and giving a faint hiss.

"How will I get food now?" he thought crossly to himself. Staring across the water to where the island stood, his young kit mind began working.

"I'll go check there!" he yowled springing to his paws. "_And if there's food and shelter I'll_ _bring Missy there and she and I can take safety there! It looks safe enough…" _

Just as he was about to gingerly balance himself on the tree-bridge, he heard a distant yowl and the padding of paws. Then came the scent of the wild cats…Storm gasped, drawing back. He was completely unprepared for a battle with wild cats, and to add to that, he was just a kit. He was about to flee when a young gray and white one came into view, looking alert. Storm let out a terrified yowl and tried to run across the tree bridge, but was stopped by a shooting pain shot up from his paw.

_"No!"_ he yowled in his head, as he lost his balance and fell. He felt the cold water around him, and thrashed his paws around wildly, madly hoping to swim to the surface. But the combined effort of his will and strength wasn't enough. His paw felt like it was going to fall off…and he was tired, and went limp. _"Missy…"_ he thought as his eyes closed. His last thoughts were interrupted when he felt two strong claws grab hold of his back fur then strong jaws on his neck scruff. Storm felt him being hauled out of the water and blinked droplets out of his eyes, gasping for breath. He scrambled to his paws, looking up to thank his savior; instead he saw hostile green eyes staring back at him.

"Are you completely mouse-brained?" the dark tabby tom hissed. "Going for a swim, are you?" Storm backed away a few paces, wincing as his paw snagged on a twig. "I…I was just trying to catch a fish!" he meowed, aware at how pitiful his voice sounded.

"Dustpelt, what happened with the kittypet?" A younger voice called out, and a small gray and white tabby tom padded up. A larger brown tom followed him and so did a white-furred she-cat.

"Berrypaw, don't go sticking your nose into a beehive," the tom snapped. "Let's see who this cat is first." Berrypaw lifted his nose into the air. "He doesn't have Clan scent!" he exclaimed.

Storm blinked. "Clans?" he muttered. He was shivering with fright, and the white one padded over and gave him a sympathetic lick in between his ears. Storm relaxed a little, and the cat examined him and turned to her companion. "Brambleclaw, he is just a kit," she meowed gently.

"Who are you?" inquired the tabby tom.

"I'm Storm," he said in a trembling voice. "I live with my Nofurs somewhere far from here-"

"Nofurs!" exclaimed the she-cat. "That's what Daisy says when she refers to Twolegs! Are you a kittypet?" Seeing Storm look confused she added. "A house cat?"

Storm nodded, relieved. "I meant no harm…" he began desperately."I was just-"

"I know," assured the tabby. "Is any other cat with you?"

"Y-yes," stammered Storm, taken aback. "My sister, Missy."

"Where is she?"

"I left her," Storm pointed with his tail, "near a clump of moss back there. I said I'd get food for her. Dogs drove us out, so…" he broke off, noticing their bristling pelts and smelling there fear-scent.

"Dogs?" hissed the kit, tail fluffed up to about twice its size.

"Not here," explained Storm. "They gave up a while ago. I doubt they're still here." The 4 cats relaxed, though their eyes darted back and forth to make sure no savage beast was about to come hurtling out of the bushes.

"Lead us to your sister. We'll take you to the clans to keep you safe," commanded the dark brown tom.

However the tabby's eyes drifted to Strom's injured leg. "You're hurt," he murmured. "Can you walk?"

"Oh, just fine," said Storm hastily; he did not want to give signs of weakness to these cats.

"What's your name?" inquired Berrypaw as they began to make their way around the lake.

"I'm Storm," he said again, blinking, giving his shaggy gray fur a quick lick.

"I'm Berrypaw," announced the gray and white cat proudly. "I'm only an apprentice."

"I'm Brambleclaw, and this is Dustpelt," Brambleclaw pointed to himself and then the dark-brown one.

"I'm Whitefur," announced the she-cat. "I was made a warrior only yesterday." Storm gave a respectful nod, before lifting his nose in the air.

"It's not far now," he confirmed. "I left her about…there!" he gave a yowl and his sister poked her head out of the tree's hole, eyes shining with delight. She ran up to him and brushed her pelt against his.

"Storm!" she purred. "How was it? Did you catch anything?" She broke off, and gave a terrified wail when she saw the other four cats.

"Its okay, Missy!" said Storm, licking her ear, as she pressed her belly to the ground and stared up with huge, scared eyes. "These cats are here to help. They'll take us to their camp to be safe."

"And how can we trust them?!" demanded Missy, glaring at the patrol of cats. Berrypaw started to bristle, but Storm put himself between the apprentice and his sister and mewed sternly to his littermate.

"Dustpelt saved me when I fell into the lake and the others were nothing but kind to me. They won't hurt us." Then he turned to Berrypaw. "You four may be wild cats, but me and my sister can take a few clumps of fur off if we have to. Missy gave those dogs yesterday a few scratches to remember her by." He tried to sound strong but his voice came out in a weak meow.

He let the words sink in when Dustpelt gave an amused growl.

"Vicious little fellow, isn't he?" he purred.

"We won't hurt you," assured Brambleclaw. Missy's shoulder fur lay flat as she stared at Berrypaw.

"All right," she said at last. But she kept close to her brother as they padded to the camp.


	3. What Really Happened

**Hey there!!! Chapter 2 updated by me, Hazelstripe. Hope you like it; but im not getting alot of reviews... oh, well, i guess that's the way it is. **

**Pearla

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**What Really Happened:**

"Rain, climb the tree!" screeched the she-cat as she hurtled herself at the young dog. It dislodged her with a flick of its tail, but she still shielded her brother form it's jaws. He was badly injured, bleeding from his throat and tail.

"Get up!" she demanded. "Rain!" He shook his head.

"Feather…I-I can't…"

"You can!"

"My leg is broken!"

"Perfect!" she hissed, grabbing his scruff. "Just drag yourself to that tree. You don't need hind legs to climb!" she commanded, voice muffled by black fur.

"Yes, I do!"

"Just get away from these dogs!!"

Rain flattened his ears and tried to crawl to the shelter of a narrow hole, too narrow for the dogs to pass through. However one noticed him and bounded over. Rain gave a screech and hid his head but the dog grabbed him by his back. He hung limply in its grasp.

"You mouse-brained idiot!" yowled his sister. "Do I hafta do the fighting for both of us here?!" She batted at the dog's snout and took off running when he released her brother.

"Rain-get-up-or-I'll-claw-you're-ears-off!" she spat out every word like poison. Rain tried to run to the edge of a cliff, and Feather followed. But so did the dogs. "Back off!"

Feather bristled, but inside she was shaking. "He could have snapped your spine!" she yelled to her brother. Rain looked embarrassed despite everything. Then his pupils grew larger and he opened his mouth to say something, but his jaw hung there motionless. Feather turned only to see large black eyes staring into hers, full of hunger and death.

"Oh…" whispered Feather."Hello there." The dog reared his head back and let out a long howl. Feather turned tail and ran, paws skidding to make sure she didn't fall off the cliff.

"Feather, what do we do?!" Rain's frightened yowl rang out.

"Jump!" instructed the she-cat.

"What-"

"JUMP!"

"I don't want to-" his sentence never finished. Feather pushed her brother into the river and jumped herself, paralyzed with fear.

It was a long, long way down.


End file.
